Borderlands

February 5, 2025
5:00-7:30pm
Loew Auditorium, Black Family Visual Arts Center

The documentary "In My Words" by artist Viktor Witkowski focuses on his Polish grandmother and her oldest daughter. Both women live in a village in Poland close to the German border. They embody the shared Polish-German history of the region, the violent traumas it carries and Poland's transformation from a former communist country to a member state of the European Union. In conversations with them and illustrated through a blend of documentary footage and imaginary visuals, Janina and Dana reflect on resilience, personal sacrifice and the challenges of rural life. Bringing attention to people who live in rural areas and who tend to be either romanticized or stigmatized, this film is a meditation on place and landscape, history, loss, and all those moments between laughter, grief, and wonder.

The screening will be followed by a round table discussion and a Q&A with director Viktor Witkowski (Studio Art Department), Yuliya Komska (German Studies Department) and social anthropologist Agnieszka Pasieka who will be joining from the University of Montreal, Canada.

This event is supported by: The Leslie Center for the Humanities, Department of Anthropology, German Studies Department, Studio Art Department, Film and Media Studies.

For more information contact viktor.l.witkowski@dartmouth.edu